


End Up Together

by steveharringtonofficial



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-12 08:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12955305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steveharringtonofficial/pseuds/steveharringtonofficial
Summary: You are Dustin’s sister. You get roped into dealing with the events that happen and somehow you and Steve end up developing feelings for each other.





	1. Chapter 1

The bell signalling lunch rang loudly and the class started packing up their belongings while the teacher tried shouting over the noise something about homework but no one was listening. You were no different, looking to get out as quickly as possible so you could nab a table in the cafeteria quickly before there were no spaces left. You swung your bag over your shoulder and left the class swiftly before almost anyone else had managed to get out. The hallways were already crowded though and you tried weaving your way through the crowd of students in the direction of the cafe. You were almost there, but before you could get in, you walked straight into someone.

“Watch it, pretty girl!” The boy shouted, before walking straight past you.

You caught a glance at him before he wandered off but you didn’t recognise him, he must be new. And with this encounter, you made a mental note to stay clear of him before muttering “asshole” under your breath and resuming your walk into the cafe.

The table you normally sat at was empty. You breathed a sigh of relief and made your way towards it. Sitting down, you took out your lunch and began eating it. You saw a boy making his way over to you, Steve Harrington. Steve was too popular for you to have interacted with him much but you knew of him, supposedly being king of the school and all.

He reached your table and opened his mouth to speak. Though he didn’t say anything and just stared at you as if trying to send you mind signals.

“You need something?” You asked him, confused as to why he was trying to talk to you.

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his perfect hair. “Can I sit here?” He gestured to one of the empty seats at your table.

You didn’t understand why he didn’t just sit with his friends. You looked around the cafeteria and saw that the people he hung out with were nowhere to be found. You shrugged, “sure. Take a seat, Harrington.”

He sat down and slowly took out his lunch, he seemed off but you didn’t question it. You didn’t know Steve all that well so it’s likely he wouldn’t confess anything to you anyway. You continued with yours, still surveying the room for signs of Steve’s friends. A scene outside the window caught your eye. The boy you ran into earlier was out in the parking lot surrounded by people and, more notably, Steve’s friends.

“Who is that guy?” Your words were sprinkled with a hint of disgust. You pointed out towards the new boy, causing Steve to look up from his food and in the direction of your finger.

Steve furrowed his brows and looked back towards you. “He’s new, name’s Billy. Only been here a week and he’s already managed to take everything from me.” He sat back in his chair.

“Is that why you’re sitting with me?” You laughed slightly but saw that Steve wasn’t amused. “I’m sorry.” You leant forward in your seat and almost touched Steve’s hand in reassurance, but decided not to. “If it means anything, I don’t think he’ll have all this attention for that long, he’s a dick.”

“That’s precisely why he will have the attention.” His words were bitter. You knew that Steve hadn’t been doing so well the last year, he only really hung out with his girlfriend and Jonathan but he still managed to keep his crown. You didn’t know much about what had happened, only little bits Dustin had managed to tell you. He kept saying it was too dangerous for you to know more.

“Where’s Nancy?” You asked, realising that if she were here, Steve would be sitting with her. Your eyes circled the room one more in search of her.

You noticed his expression change now, more to anger. “She dumped me.” He almost spat the words out. “Weren’t you there at the party last week? How do you not know all this stuff?”

You thought back to that night. You spent most of the party on the side-lines, and you were fairly certain you must have left before Billy showed up since if you had, you definitely would have remembered him. Though you realised it was now Friday and were confused as to how you hadn’t heard of him until a whole week later. You shot Steve a look of sympathy. “I didn’t know, Steve. I’m sorry.”

Steve sighed in frustration before grabbing his bag and leaving the table without a word. You didn’t know what you had done wrong but you decided to leave him to it. Pursuing him would only make matters worse.

* * *

At the end of the day, you headed to the parking lot, ready to go home for the weekend. You saw Billy leaning against what you presumed was his car, parked right next to yours. You tried to walk right past him but he stopped you from ending your day peacefully.

“You’re the girl who rudely walked into me earlier.” He stated when you were close enough to hear. He had a cigarette hanging from his mouth and he blew out a plume of smoke before taking the cigarette into his hand. You tried to ignore the boy and get to your car instead but he taunted again. “You know, you really should watch where you’re going.”

You were at the door of your car now but you looked over at him. “You know, you really should find better things to do with your time other than harassing girls and ruining people’s reputations.”

Billy only smiled at your remark and raised his hands to signal his defeat. “We make do with what we’ve got, sweetheart.”

You rolled your eyes, disgusted at the nickname, and got into your car. As you drove off, you noticed Billy chastising a little girl who had come up to him. She got into his car visibly annoyed, but you were gone before you could see more unfold.

* * *

Your evening was fairly uneventful until you brother came barging right into your room.

“Dustin, what have I-” You aimed to shout at him for coming into your room, but he cut you off before you could remind him of your privacy rules.

“[Y/N], I really need your help and I really don’t have time for you to say no.” Dustin looked worried, as if something had scared the hell out of him. He was your brother and so you trusted him and went along with whatever he was saying.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find something lurking in your basement with your unexpected ally.

“Dustin, I don’t understand. What the hell is going on?” Dustin was making you dig out your old baseball bat. It was under years worth of clutter since you hadn’t played baseball since middle school, you were sure you would never find it.

“[Y/N], please, you’re my sister. You’re supposed to just support me and do as I ask and not ask any questions.” Dustin was searching around for something else, you didn’t know what. He seemed too preoccupied with his search to mention it to you.

“Is this about that stuff that happened last year?” You asked, finally pulling out the bat then going to stand in front of Dustin. Dustin pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on and off a few times.

“You can’t talk about that!” He shouted at you, shining the torchlight directly into your face. “Anyway, none of my friends are answering me, why do you think I’m asking you for help? I need you to drive me to their houses to see if they’re there. This is a code red [Y/N], I really need help.”

You trusted Dustin with your life and you two had always been close. You sighed in defeat, took the bat and headed to your car.

You drove first to Will’s, then to Lucas’ and at each house, you found that the kids were nowhere to be seen. You were on your way now to Mike’s house to see if he was at home, though your optimism had left you. You didn’t understand anything about what was happening or why Dustin had to be so secretive with you but you had to trust him.

“Why’s the lock on the basement door? We haven’t locked that thing up in years.” You asked, glancing over at Dustin for a second then locking your eyes back on the road, tapping the wheel nervously.

Dustin feigned shock, you could tell. “Oh, it is? Mom must have put it on for some reason.” He looked out the window of the car. You weren’t convinced by his answer but you didn’t ask further.

You pulled up at the Wheeler’s house and watched Dustin get out the car and walk down the path to the front door. You lost yourself in your thoughts about whatever the hell was happening until a car pulled up behind yours. You looked in your rear-view mirror to see Steve walking out with flowers in his hand down the same pathway Dustin had just walked down. Looking over towards the Wheeler’s door, you saw Dustin walking back up the pathway. He spoke to Steve saying something to him that you couldn’t hear through the closed windows. You opened up your door and hopped out, turning round to look at the two boys.

“Is he your last resort?” You joked, gesturing towards Steve. You didn’t know that Steve and Dustin knew each other, but somehow they seemed to be aquainted.

Dustin’s eyes lit up. “Actually, yeah!” He grabbed Steve’s arm and dragged him back up towards his car. “You’re gonna follow us home and help us with something, okay?”

Steve looked shocked and pulled his arm away from Dustin’s grip. “What? No! I need to apologise to Nancy. I don’t have time for your shit, kid.” You raised an eyebrow at him swearing at your brother. He started for the door again but Dustin grabbed him once more.

“She’s not there, neither is Mike. And the rest of my dumb friends aren’t around either, so I need you to help me.” Dustin pleaded with him. Steve groaned in response. “Please, Steve. It’s really important. I’ll explain more when we get back to mine.”

He pointed at Dustin with the flowers in his hand, “fine, but if you pull any shit, I’m out.” He then glanced back up at you before grudgingly getting into his own car.

You and Dustin both got back into your car and made your way back to your house, with Steve following closely behind.

When you got back home, Dustin immediately went over to Steve, explaining something to him that you clearly weren’t meant to know. Steve had a sceptical look on his face but there was also a hint of seriousness. As if whatever Dustin was telling him could be extremely dangerous if it was true.

“Do you need my help for this or…” You trailed off turning your body towards the door, wondering if he would shut you out of these events just like last year.

Your brother waved you off. “No, we’re fine. Steve and I can handle this on our own.” He looked back at Steve, about to continue explaining whatever he was talking about but Steve stopped him.

“Actually, kid, I think your sister should know. If you aren’t pulling some stupid prank on me then you’re gonna need all the help you can get.” Genuine worry spread over Steve’s face but when he looked up at you, you could see a hint of hopefulness. For what, you didn’t know.

“She can’t know, they’ll kill us!” Dustin whispered loudly back at him, simultaneously slapping him across the arm.

Steve shrugged before walking towards you. “Kid’s got some weird monster trapped in your basement. Could just be a lizard-“ he glanced back at Dustin,”-but he’s convinced otherwise. He thinks it’ll turn into the same monster from last year, which of course you probably don’t know about but it basically tried to kill us. So, if Dustin here is telling the truth, which I hope he’s not, we’re gonna need some help.” He rested both his hands on your shoulders, giving you the impression that he was extremely serious about what he was talking about. The warmth from his hands spread from their placement.

You tried to process the information Steve just told you. You looked back and forth between Dustin and Steve, a stunned expression blanketing your face. You couldn’t get any words out so you just nodded your head, still trying to comprehend the situation.

“I told you we shouldn’t have told her.” Dustin retorted in a response to your silence.

You pushed past Steve towards your brother, his hands falling from you. “No, you definitely should have told me. You could have  _died_  last year and you didn’t tell me? What the hell?” You shouted at Dustin. You understand there was probably some reason he couldn’t tell you, likely that ‘they’ he mentioned earlier, but you were his sister and he should have trusted you. “Anyway, clearly that doesn’t matter now. What are we going to do about this monster you trapped in our basement?”

Dustin tells that you’ll need the bat you dug out earlier just in case anything happens, to which Steve immediately goes to the trunk of his car and pulls out a bat with nails in it and your eyes go wide. Your plain old baseball bat is no match for his but you bring it out of your trunk anyway, to which Steve smiles at you and suggests that you two are matching.

Steve goes up to the cellar doors and hits them with his bat, but there’s no reaction from anything in the basement. He hits it again, and again, but there is still no reaction.

Dustin shrugs. “It’s down there!” He shouts in defence when both you and Steve shoot him sceptical looks.

Steve eyes him dubiously and backs away from the doors. He sighs. “You got a key for this thing?”

Dustin runs into your house to grab the key to the cellar while you wait outside with Steve. He’s staring at you, noticeably.

“What?” You ask him, turning to look at him, crossing your arms over your chest as some sort of defence.

Steve shrugged. “I didn’t know you were Dustin’s sister.”

You laughed at his comment. “Does that change anything? Am I uber cool now, or the complete opposite?” You raised an eyebrow at him.

Steve smiled a warm smile. “You were always cool.”

Suddenly, Dustin comes out with the cellar key and grabs the torch he had found earlier.

He goes up to the doors and unlocks the chain that’s wrapped around the handles. He swings them open, with Steve beside him, bat at the ready. You take up a similar stance of your own. Dustin shines the torch down the stairs but when nothing comes out, Steve drops the bat to his side and turns to Dustin. “I swear to God, Henderson-“

“IT’S DOWN THERE!” Dustin shouts back, louder than he had before. Then looks back to make sure his noise didn’t stir anything.

Steve grabs the torch that Dustin was holding and heads down the stairs, bat protruding down in front of him. You head down after him, staying close behind him. “Be careful,” you whisper as you reach the bottom. Steve shoots you a look to say “duh” and turns back to look around the basement.

He wanders round the cellar looking for signs of this monster Dustin had mentioned but there’s nothing to be seen.  Steve turns back to you, about to say something when you point into one of the corners. He turns, to look at the hole in your basements that’s clearly been dug out by something large. He goes closer and picks up something with the end of his bat that looks like shed skin, dripping with goo. He turns to you, eyes wide in horror. “That little shithead was right.” He says, barely loud enough to hear.

“Hey Dusty,” you shout. “Get down here!”

Dustin tentatively comes down the stairs before he stops dead in his tracks when he sees the shed skin. “Shit.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now you have a plan to lure Dart and kill him, but things don’t go as planned.

Somehow, the three of you came up with a plan to lure this monster, a baby Demogorgon that he had named Dart, to the old junkyard. You gathered up buckets of raw meat and headed out to the old railroad tracks that lead to the junkyard. On the way there, Lucas finally responded to Dustin and was told to meet you guys at the junkyard with his wrist-rocket and his binoculars. Lucas seemed confused that you and Steve were there but Dustin waved him off and Lucas agreed to meet.

You trailed behind Steve and Dustin on the walk to the junkyard. They appeared to be getting along together, much to your confusion, and Steve seemed to be giving Dustin advice of some sort. Surely advice from Steve Harrington can’t be good advice, you thought. He quickly looked back towards you before whispering something to Dustin.

“Farrah Fawcett spray?” Dustin practically shouted at the top of his lungs, causing you to giggle at the fact that Steve was clearly talking about his hair. You weren’t surprised though. To get hair that good, you have to go to drastic measures.

Steve looked back at you with worry and then hit Dustin playfully on the arm. “You little shithead. You tell anyone else I told you that and your ass is grass. You’re dead, Henderson. Do you understand?” Dustin nodded his head hesitantly. Steve looked back at you as if he was about to repeat the same threat to you.

“The whole school’s gonna know about this, Harrington.” You teased, a playful smile dancing on your lips. He just huffed dramatically and walked further ahead, continuing to throw down meat for Dart. You caught up with Dustin and questioned him about what he and Steve were talking about. He insisted it was nothing, but you pointed out that Steve was giving him hair advice, and that was clearly something.

“There’s just, there’s this girl,” Dustin admitted painfully, throwing down a piece of meat aggressively.

“And you didn’t tell me? You have a little crush on her?” You poked his arm teasingly and he wriggled away from you.

Dustin protested, turning to you. “No! I don’t have a crush on her!”

You nodded. “Of course, Dusty.” You knew he was lying, but provoking him more wouldn’t do much good.

When you reached the junkyard, you loaded up the remaining meat into a pile and poured gasoline over it, a trail leading from the meat to a bus that you intended to use as a base. Lucas eventually showed up with the girl that you saw earlier getting into Billy’s car. You left Dustin to talk to Lucas and the girl and she eventually came over to introduce herself, leaving Dustin and Lucas together. She told you and Steve her name was Max and she immediately began helping after you told her what the plan was.

“You nervous?” You asked Steve as you helped him place a sheet of metal onto the bus.

He looked at you and you could clearly see the answer from his face but he said the opposite of what he was feeling. “No, I’m good. I was in this before last year, remember. I’m a complete pro.” You laughed at his clearly incorrect statement of his professionalism. His eyes lit up at the sound.

“I trust you. Just know if that thing comes at you I am not stepping in to help since you’re obviously better at this.” Steve noted your sarcasm and made a face at you. You started to pick up another sheet of metal.

“Better than you anyway, you’re new here.” Steve bumped you on the shoulder as he walked past to help you with the next sheet.

“Are you sure about that? I actually played baseball, why do you think we have one of these?” You gestured with a nod of your head towards the two bats that were lying next to the bus.

“We’ll see, Henderson.” He winked at you before wandering off to shout at the boys, which you were glad about since a pink flush rose to your cheeks. “Hey, dickheads! How come the only people helping me are your sister and this random girl? We lose light in forty minutes, let’s go!” He waited for the boys to get up but they didn’t. “Let’s go, I said!”

The five of you finished ramping up the defences of the bus and gathered inside. Lucas was on top of the bus, keeping a lookout for Dart. You were sitting opposite of Steve and Max and Dustin were having an argument. Something about the fact that Max was here even though she didn’t believe any of it. You were too focused on Steve playing with his lighter and wishing he wouldn’t, the sound was as annoying as someone clicking a pen over and over again. Max stormed off to the roof before you could properly tune into their conversation.

“That’s good,” Steve said, looking up at Dustin. “Just show her you don’t care.” He winked at Dustin, who seemed repulsed and told him to stop to which Steve looked down into his lap and began playing with the lighter again.

“You know, that’s pretty shitty advice, Steve.” You said turning your gaze to your brother. “I wouldn’t listen to him.”

“So you think he should outright confess his love for her?” Steve rose an eyebrow at you. Dustin muttered something about not being in love with her.

You thought for a second, obviously confessing like that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. “No, I just think he should show some form of interest in her. If he doesn’t, then she’s just going to think he wants nothing to do with her. Which is clearly what’s happening.”

Dustin huffed in annoyance. “I don’t need you two to decide my love life. [Y/N], you haven’t dated someone in forever and Steve just got dumped so neither of you seem to be very good at this sort of stuff.” Dustin was trying to keep his voice quiet but still managed to get his point across.

You and Steve both looked at each other and silently agreed that Dustin had a point.

At that moment, Lucas shouted down that he could see something through the fog. You, Steve and Dustin all rushed over to a gap in the metal to look out at what Lucas had seen. You saw some sort of animal that looked kind of like a dog, but too reptilian.

“Shit.” You breathed out, fear immediately washing over you. “What the hell is that?” Your eyes landed on Dustin who was still staring out the window. You didn’t get an answer from either of the two boys and so you assumed this was the thing you were looking for.

“It’s not taking the bait,” Steve sounded frustrated. He handed Dustin the lighter and headed out the door. Steve looked him straight in the eyes, in dead seriousness. “Get ready.”

Dustin protested but Steve was already out the door of the bus and waving around his bat in an aim to entice the baby Demogorgon towards him. A stupid idea, but one that you knew was bound to work. You stood at the doorway of the bus with Dustin behind you as well as Max further back who had come down in the midst of your confusion.

“Steve! Watch out!”

Lucas’ voice startled you and you peered out into the fog. Steve insisted he was too busy but Lucas shouted something about 3 o’clock. You looked around to Steve’s blind spot, only to see several more of these monsters coming up behind him. Steve had managed to look around quickly enough to jump out of the way of the one that lurched forward at him. He tumbled over the hood of a car and you immediately jumped out of the bus, bat in hand, ready to help Steve fight these things.

You gripped your bat tightly, ready to swing at anything that came your way. Steve was doing the same, and you could tell he was tense even though he had told you he was fine earlier. Steve was the first to hit one, his bat delivering an almost deadly blow. More came running forward and you swung at the nearest one, knocking it clear off its path and into a car. Your bat may not have had nails in it but your hits were just as destructive. The two of you worked your way through the monsters and you and Steve had ended up back to back.

You whispered over your shoulder to him. “We should get back on the bus. This is too dangerous.”

Steve nodded in agreement and swiftly grabbed your arm before pulling you back into the bus. You shut the door to the bus and stood back, the two of you aiming your bat at the door in case something came in. Lucas was down on the bottom floor now and the kids were all huddled together, Max staring up at the hole in the roof. One of the monsters ran into the door of the bus but didn’t manage to get through. You tightened your grip on the bat and prepared for anything to come through. More of them decided to attack the bus, shaking it and threatening it to tumble over. You looked over at the kids reassuringly, even though you yourself were scared shitless too.

One had jumped onto the roof of the bus now and paced slowly over to the opening in the roof. It reached the entrance and opened what you could only assume was its mouth. Max screamed but Steve had pulled her out the way quickly and went to attack the monster. A loud noise in the distance, a call maybe, seemed to make the baby demogorgons retreat. Steve waited for a bit before lowering his bat and walking towards the door to open it again. The two of you stepped out, the kids following closely behind.

“Looks like you scared ‘em off.” You teased Steve.

“Not without your help,” Steve winked back at you. “What happened to ‘I’m not stepping in to help’?”

“I guess it just felt right.” You said before turning back to the kids to make sure they were all okay.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find out Dustin’s pet ate your damn cat and run into some friends in trouble.

The five of you started making you way back out to the road where Steve had left his car. Dustin and Lucas began talking. Lucas wasn’t convinced that what you had saw was Dart, Max pointing out that he was tiny just a few days ago. Dustin told them that he had moulted three times already and was bound to do it again, becoming full size. A full size demogorgon was not something you thought you could handle. Max was being quiet, probably trying to comprehend all of this stuff similar to you considering she was barely a believer when Lucas brought her to the junkyard.

“He’s gonna eat a lot more than cats,” Steve said, stopping you in your tracks and causing Steve to whirl round to look at you questioningly.

“Cats?” You questioned. You had a cat, and if anything happened to Mews then you were not going to be happy.

“Yeah he… ate… Mews…” Steve’s words trailed off when he realised what was saying.

Dustin shouted at Steve for revealing this information and Lucas starting berating Dustin for even keeping Dart in the first place, because they had presumably lost him. The two of them started arguing for about the fifth time since they had met up at the junkyard and Max looked fed up of it. Steve looked at you sympathetically and laid his hand on your shoulder while you tried to understand what Dustin and Lucas were talking about.

“You alright?” Steve asked, shaking your shoulder gently then pulling his hand away as if he did something wrong. You saw his cheeks turn slightly pink in the dim torchlight. You acted like you hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah,” you lied. “I just really liked that cat.” You tried to laugh but it didn’t work out properly. Something else caught your attention though – some weird sounds coming from the distance. “Do you hear that?” You whispered to Steve as you turned around to figure out where the noises were coming from.

Steve eyed you cautiously then stood in front of you, in the direction the sound was coming from. “Yeah, sounds like that thing that called them away earlier.”

Steve shouted at the boys to get their attention and then started running in the direction of the noises when they had caught on. You followed, Dustin and Lucas following closely behind. You heard Max calling from where you had left her, confused as to why you were going towards the sound. “Come on, Max!” you shouted to her and she eventually caught up with you guys.

You reached a cliffside which looked over the whole of Hawkins. The city looked kind of beautiful at this time of night but you were snapped out of that thought when you heard another noise. Dustin noted that he couldn’t see anything, likely because of the fog. Another noise rattled throughout the town. Lucas took out his binoculars and started searching before landing on the lab and suggesting that it was coming from there. The boys agreed that the demogorgons were going back home, to where they came from.

“Hold up. They came from the lab? I always knew there was something weird about that place.” You said and Dustin nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go investigate.” Steve said and turned in the direction that led down to the lab.

You and Steve took the lead, with the kids following behind you.

“You think you could put nails in my bat too? I think it would help a little more.” You suggested to Steve, holding the bat out in front of you.

He turned towards you and looks at you with surprise. “I think you can handle yourself just fine without them, [Y/N].”

His compliment made your cheeks turn slightly pink. You hoped Steve couldn’t see with it being dark, but you turned away from him nonetheless.

You were nearing the edge of the woods at the lab when you heard a shout.

“Hello?” You and Steve looked at each other and then back to the kids. “Who’s there?” The voice shouted again. It sounded familiar but you couldn’t put your finger on it.

You walked out the edge of the forest only to find Nancy and Jonathan together.

“Steve?” They exclaimed in unison. Then they turned to you. “[Y/N]?”

“Nancy?” Steve said, returning their surprise.

“Jonathan?” Dustin stepped forward now.

“What are you doing here?” Nancy questioned, stepping forward to confront Steve.

Steve returned the same question, to which she told you that they were looking for Mike and Will. Dustin’s face lit up with horror as he asked whether they were in the lab, motioning towards it. Nancy admitted that she didn’t know, worry striking her face. Jonathan questioned why Dustin was so worried about it when another series of screeching sounds came from the lab, a lot louder than it had been before. You all turned to look at where the sound came from. All of you had more panicked looks on your faces now.

Jonathan tried to open the gates once more, as he had previously been doing before you showed up. Somehow, Dustin managed to get them open, but you were unconvinced it was actually him. Nancy and Jonathan agreed that they would head up in Jonathan’s car to see what was going on while the rest of you stayed at the gate to keep a lookout.

“God, I hope they’re not in there. Who knows what’s happened.” You were sitting up against the control booth, Steve pacing around, trying to keep a level head.

“If they are, they’ll be fine. They managed it before last year with all this stuff going on.” Steve didn’t look convinced but he was telling himself that he had to be. He had to be okay so that the kids would be okay and so that you would be okay.

“What happened last year?” You questioned. You still didn’t know the full story and there was hardly any time tonight for anyone to tell you.

Steve sighed and sat down next to you. Explaining the whole thing, about eleven, about the Demogorgon, about how Will was actually lost in the upside-down. Everything. He admitted that he only showed up very late into the events but he still got briefed on what was going on.

You were knocked out of your conversation and the both of you stood up immediately when Jonathan came barrelling down the road, honking his horn. The kids jumped out of the way just in time for them to get passed. Another vehicle came down after them, a van driven by Hopper, the Chief. He stopped parallel to the five of you and told you all to get inside. You and Steve stood at the door, ushering the kids through first before Steve made you get on and he followed close behind. The second Steve closed the door, Hopper was already barrelling down the road, eager to get away from the lab. You wondered what was so horrific in there that they wanted to get away so quickly but then you realised that was not something you wanted to think about.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is back in the safety of his own home. Can you reach him? Eleven finally comes home.

You made it back to the Byers’ house in no time at all. When you got there, Will was already lying on the sofa, blanketed and being reassured by Jonathan. The kid did not look well and you hoped to God that nothing bad had happened to him. Hopper decided the ring the police station but it didn’t sound like he got very far with them. The kids were all sitting around a table in the kitchen while Steve paced about and you were leaning up against the counter.

“They didn’t listen to you, did they?” Mike questioned. The boy was clearly distraught. Hopper told him that you should wait around for help, but you were convinced that help wasn’t coming. Whatever was in there, you would only believe it if you had saw it.

Hopper left you and went to check on Joyce. After what you learned from Steve today, she had been through so much you could hardly believe she was alive.

Mike brought up Bob, a man you’d never met but he had clearly impacted the kids’ lives a lot. He wanted to come up with a plan to ensure that he didn’t die in vain. Instead, Max brought up the valid point that there was no way you’d be able to fight all of those things on your own. The demodogs, as Dustin had coined them, were this shadow monster’s army. An army you couldn’t defeat. Until Mike had a realisation that if you stopped the shadow monster, you could maybe stop his followers.

Mike ran to Will’s room to find a drawing, one of the shadow monster, and you all followed. Will was “infected” by this thing, you learned. He was connected to it all, the demodogs, the vines that supposedly ran under town, the shadow monster, the upside down. If they felt pain, so does Will. These creatures and Will all had something called a ‘hive-mind’ connecting them all to each other. Dustin compared it to what he called, a mind-flayer.

“The what?” You, Steve and Max all said in unison. You looked at Steve in confusion but he only shrugged, he didn’t understand this any more than you did.

The boys ran off looking for a book, while the rest of you gathered round a table. Even Hopper and Nancy had joined in now. Dustin opened the book to a page and pointed at a graphic. “The mind-flayer.”

“The hell is that?” Hopper said, his tone was completely unamused.

Dustin explained that this mythical being was supposedly a monster from an unknown dimension, so old that it doesn’t know its true home and enslaves people using special powers.

Hopper continued being unamused. “Oh my God, this is a kids’ game.”

Dustin was quick to point out that not only was this just a manual, but that it wasn’t for kids either. He also explained that this was the best analogy, as Lucas put it, for explaining the shadow monster. Nancy asked Dustin what this thing actually wanted.

“To conquer us, basically. It believes it’s the master race.” Dustin explained.

“Like the Germans?” Steve said as if he totally understood what Dustin was talking about.

You looked to him in shock. “The Nazis, Steve.”

“Yeah, yeah, the Nazis.” Steve sounded as if he understood now and was clearly embarrassed.

Dustin continued telling you that this thing basically wants to destroy the whole world. Steve wandered off in frustration, clearly anxious about the whole dying thing. You felt sympathetic for him, but you stayed to find out more. It ended up in an argument, since you realised that what you were talking about was indeed made-up and you didn’t know anything about how to actually kill it, Mike pointing out that you can’t just shoot it with guns so even if the military came, it wouldn’t help.

Joyce came out of her room, concluding that you had to kill it, that she wanted to kill it. Mike came up with a plan to find out more about the shadow monster by putting Will somewhere he didn’t recognise and interrogating him. You all helped clear out the shed that was in the back yard, and taping it up with sheets, paper and cardboard so that it was unrecognisable. You left Hopper, Mike, Jonathan and Joyce to interrogate Will while the rest of you waited in the house.

None of you were talking, it was a bit of a waiting game. You sat on the sofa, knees huddled up to your chest while Steve swung his bat about the living room.

“Careful with that thing.” You joked. He immediately stopped and looked over at you.

“I won’t hit you, I promise.” Steve winked and continued swinging it about. You rolled your eyes and looked out the window, hoping not to see any of those things again.

Eventually Hopper came in with the rest of the crew who were out with Will and began scribbling down on paper. He concluded that Will was still ‘in there’ and that he was communicating with morse code which send you all scrambling to try and come up with a way to translate what Will was saying to you. The kids all gathered round the table while they translated what Hopper was signalling through his walkie-talkie. You all gathered round to look at what had been said.

“Close gate.” You all said in unity.

Suddenly the phone rang and you all jumped up. Dustin went over to it and took it off the hook then placed it back on but it rang again. Nancy ended up taking the damn thing off the wall and breaking it. If Will heard the phone, then you guys were in trouble. You all stared out the window as screeching sounds echoed. Hopper came back in, readying everyone to fight. You all took up stances with your respective weapons and waited for the commotion to start.

Fear resided within you when the noises came closer, eventually sounding to your right. Then in front of you. Then all around. You gripped the bat so tightly your knuckles turned white and you could see Steve was the exact same. Eventually you heard wailing sounds and one came bursting right through the window. It was dead though, and you looked up in confusion. You all looked towards the door as you heard the lock turn. The tension grew so much you could hardly bare it anymore. The door creaked open and in walked a girl, nose bloody, who you could only presume was Eleven. Mike immediately wandered forward, tears forming in his eyes. The girl was clearly in the same state.

You turned towards Steve and mouthed “is that her?” to him. He nodded. Steve had told you a little bit about Eleven, even though he had never actually met her himself. You left her to reunite with Mike and the rest of the crew who had gathered in the house. You and Steve retreated back to the kitchen.

“Everyone seems pretty emotional about her.” You stated, the girl clearly helped but you were still confused about her ‘abilities’.

“Yeah, I think the kids were pretty close with Eleven.”

The two of you were leaning up against the counter and Steve was unusually close for the amount of space the two of you had.

“Are you sure you’re okay with all this?” Steve asked, giving you a look of concern. You didn’t know why he felt compelled to keep asking you if you were alright.

You giggled at him. “I feel like I should be the one asking you that since you’re always the one freaking out, whether you show it or not.”

Steve’s eyes went wide. “You notice?” His cheeks flushed pink. Embarrassed Steve was not one you saw often but one you could get used to.

“I’m a reader, Steve. I can tell when people aren’t right. Like when you sat with me at lunch. Something was off then and something’s been off the entire night.” You were facing him more now, your hip against the counter instead.

“I guess I was just caught up about losing all my friends and then Nancy and then Billy. It hit me all at once. I hate to say it, but all the shit that’s gone on tonight has been a welcome distraction.” He paused, deep in thought. “It also made me realise some things.” His chocolate brown eyes looked deeply into yours, but he turned away.

“Like?” You questioned him. Clearly if he wouldn’t have said that if he wasn’t willing to tell you.

He hummed. “I think I’ll keep that to myself just now, Henderson.” You rolled your eyes as Eleven and Joyce came back into the room, the rest following with them.

They came up with a plan to close the gate that Will had inconspicuously told you about earlier but first they had to get the mind flayer out of Will. Hopper told Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy to take Will to the cabin he and Eleven had been staying in to do God knows what to free him. He and Eleven would go to the lab to seal the gate, leaving you, Steve and the kids at the Byers’.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get an unexpected visit from Billy Hargrove.

Dustin had insisted on keeping one of the demodogs for scientific purposes or something and made Steve put it in the refrigerator. Steve had wrapped it up in a blanket of some sort and after Dustin had cleared the fridge, he went to put it inside, smacking the things head right off the side. You helped him, closing the door after he had shoved it inside. You giggled at him.

“Remind me to never trust you with a child.”

“Honestly, I can’t see myself ever shoving a kid into a refrigerator, [Y/N].” He glared over at Dustin. “Well… Maybe one.” He joked and Dustin rolled his eyes.

“You guys are gross, you know that?” Dustin spat out. You and Steve both looked at him in confusion. “Don’t think just cause I’m thirteen I don’t notice you two flirting round the damn clock.” Dustin wandered off to find the rest of the party.

You shot Steve a glance of “what the hell?” and followed Dustin.

Mike was pacing about, worried for the safety of El. The party began planning for a way to lure the demodogs away from the lab to buy her some time, suggesting that they set one of the pits on fire. They were all wrapped up in their plan when Steve butted in.

“This is not happening!” Steve whipped the towel he had around his shoulder off to point at the kids. They tried to argue back but he wasn’t having it. “We promised we’d keep you shitheads safe, and that’s exactly what we plan on doing. We’re staying here.”

You had actually thought they had a good plan, but Steve was right. It was far too dangerous for you to go out, particularly with the fact that if you set the pits alight, it might hurt Will if he wasn’t yet free.

Steve continued. “Does everyone understand? I need a yes!” The kids looked at you and Steve with blank expressions.

Just then, you heard an engine revving outside and the kids, Max in particular, running to the window.

She looked back at you with fear. “It’s my brother, he can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill  _us_.”

You peered out the window to see none other than Billy Hargrove and you heeded the girl’s warning. Steve, taking on responsibility, went outside to deal with Billy. You stood at the doorway to see what was happening. The two of them conversed, Billy asking for his sister and Steve saying that she wasn’t there, that he had no idea who she was.

“And you, Henderson, you don’t know her?” Billy looked over at you. The boy filled you with absolute rage and while you had only known Max a few hours, you would protect her with your life.

“Not a clue, Hargrove.” You said with absolute certainty in your voice.

Billy’s eyes flicked over to the window. “Then who’s that?”

You looked over to the kids who were staring out the window, whispering over to them “what the fuck were you doing?” as they jumped away from the window. Billy pushed Steve to the ground, kicking him while he was down while he barged into the house. You wanted to go out to Steve but you had to help these kids.

Billy immediately started picking on Lucas, an act you thought was absolutely horrendous. He pushed Lucas up against the wall, grabbing him by the collar and told him to stay away from Max. You pulled at Billy’s shoulder in the aim to get him to back off Lucas.

“Billy. You should go.” You weren’t afraid to start a fight with him.

He dropped Lucas and turned to you instead. “Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do about it, sweetheart.” You shot him a look of pure anger as he said that word.

Just as you were about to do something, Steve pulled you aside and swung a punch at Billy, knocking him back. Billy stood up and taunted Steve. “Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?” He chuckled. “I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody’s been telling me so much about!”

“Get. Out.” Steve said to Billy but he didn’t listen and swung a punch right back at Steve but he managed to dodge it and hit him right back, shoving him into the table.

The two of them fought, punched thrown left and right. The two of them knocked things over, broke multiple things in the Byers’ house that you were not sure how you’d explain the mess to Joyce when this was done. Billy hit Steve over the head with a plate, causing him to stumble backwards. Steve had been dominating the fight but now Billy had the upper hand. He managed to knock Steve to the ground again and got on top of him, punching his face bloody. You tried pulling Billy off of Steve, trying to think of any other way to help Steve but Billy only pushed you backwards, elbowing you right in the face before returning his attention to Steve. Steve was unconscious now and you were sure Billy would go as far as killing him. The kids were yelling at him to stop, but Max took the initiative and found the sedative they had used on Will earlier. She took the needle and stabbed it straight into Billy’s neck, making him stop immediately.

Billy stood and turned to Max, obviously aiming to hurt her in some way or at least shout at her but instead he collapsed to the ground, barely conscious. Max grabbed Steve’s bat and held it above her head.

“From here on out you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?”

Billy merely laughed, “screw you.”

Max swung the bat down and it landed between his legs. He jolted up. “Say you understand! Say it!” Max shouted again.

“I understand,” Billy said weakly.

“What?” Max clearly wanted him to repeat it.

“I understand.” Billy said more clearly this time before passing out completely.

Max dropped the bat to the ground before searching Billy for his car keys. “Let’s get out of here.”

You were still holding your nose, sure it was broken. “What do you think you’re doing?” You went over to Steve, checking him to make sure he was still breathing and all the other critical things.

“We’re going to distract the demodogs. We’re going ahead with our plan, it’s not like he can complain.” She said back to you. The kids did have a convincing argument and at this point you had nothing left to lose.

You sighed, “fine. But I’m driving and we need to take Steve with us and patch him up.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You decide to follow along with the kids’ plan, much to Steve’s disagreement.

The five of you hauled Steve into the back of Billy’s car after you quickly wiped his wounds with a cloth. Mike had found some cute kids plasters and began sticking them around Steve’s face, not that they actually helped. You and the kids got in the car, Steve still unconscious in the back, and drove to where the opening for the tunnels was.

You were driving down the road when Steve stirred awake. He looked up, eyes still half closed. Steve went to touch his face but Dustin stopped him and said not to touch it. Dustin began cooing at him, telling him he was going to be okay.

Steve looked towards the car now, to you where you were driving and to Max who was in the passenger seat. Lucas was giving you directions from the back of the car. “What’s going on?” He asked, slurring his words.

“We’re going ahead with their plan,” you said nonchalantly, glancing back to look at Steve. Even with a punched-up face he still looked attractive.

Steve was too busy freaking out in the back that Lucas got distracted and you almost missed a turn. You swerved the car round to the left, knocking about everyone in the car. You stopped sharply at the hole that had been dug up previously by Hopper. Steve jerked up and yelled.

“You need to chill, alright?” You looked back at him before getting out of the car. The rest of the kids followed, leaving Steve to stumble out on his own.

Before you had left you had grabbed a bunch of things you thought you’d need; goggles, bandanas to wear over your mouths, flashlights, rope. You opened the trunk and began handing them out. Once everyone had put their gear on, you started tying the rope around the front of the car as an anchor.

“Where do you think you’re going, [Y/N]?” Steve speech was still slurred slightly and he could barely stand without swaying. He started rambling about how you weren’t supposed to be going down there and that you should go back now.

You stood up and walked over to Steve, checking his wounds. “This is our only chance to help, Steve. We have to do this, okay?” Your voice was soft as you ran your fingers over his cuts. He winced a little but didn’t seem to mind. “We promised we’d keep the kids safe. I couldn’t talk them out of it so we have to go down there with them.”

You grabbed some extra equipment from the trunk and handed it to Steve. He stared at you for a second then reluctantly grabbed the gear from your hands and put it on. You smiled at him before heading back to the kids.

You went down the hole first, then Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, and finally, Steve. Mike began pointing you in what he thought was the correct direction. You followed the tunnels, yourself in front and Steve backing the party up. Mike had wanted to lead but you had told him that if anything happened, you and Steve would get the blame. He unenthusiastically fell back in line with the others. You urged everyone to pick up their pace.

Suddenly you heard Dustin scream. He was flailing about and you ran to him asking him what happened. He said something was in his mouth and kept swearing. You put your hands on his shoulder to reassure him and he coughed a little. Dustin looked up at you. “I’m okay.”

“Don’t do that again, idiot.” You warned him. He had scared the life out of you.

You stayed behind with Dustin while Steve took up the lead for the rest of your journey to the pit. Steve stopped harshly.

“Alright Wheeler, I think we found your hub.” Steve shone his torch through the area that you had found. About half a dozen tunnels led into it, leading you to believe this was the right place.

“Drench it.”

You all took the canisters of gasoline you had taken down and covered the pit from head to toe, then lit the place up. You all began running back to the entrance when Mike started screaming. One of the vines had wrapped around his leg and was threatening to cover him. Steve immediately took out his nail bat and hit the thing, causing it to retreat. Jesus, this place was terrifying.

You continued on your way back until you ran into a demodog. Except it didn’t attack you, it merely crept up. Dustin recognised it as Dart and walked up to him. You wanted to hold Dustin back but Steve stopped you, grabbing your hand as you reached out to him. Dustin reached into his rucksack and brought out a Three Musketeers. Of course, the kid brought candy.

He broke it up, offering a piece to the monster, who stepped forward and ate it up. Dustin motioned for you guys to move past him as he ate. You all walked pat with no interruption from Dart, much to your surprise. Dustin really seemed to have some sort of weird connection with this thing. He left the other piece for Dart to have and moved passed him as well.

More of the demodogs were creeping closer to your location, you could hear. You and Steve started helping the kids up the rope when it was just you and him left. He was about the help you up when you heard the dogs get closer. You saw them coming down the tunnel and you and Steve both grabbed your bats, ending up side by side, readying yourselves for a fight. The kids up top kept shouting for you to climb up but you were not leaving Steve down here alone, and he didn’t seem to want to do the same to you either. The demodogs ran closer and closer and you feared for your life but the just ran past you, every one of them. Steve pulled you close to him, trying to create more space for them as they ran around past your legs.

When they were all past you suddenly realised the grip Steve had on you and the two of your parted awkwardly. Had it not been for the bandana around your face, he would have seen how red you had gone. The two of you made your way up the rope back up to the kids. Mike noted the demodogs must have been going to the gate and you could feel how bad he felt about leaving Eleven.

As you got out, the headlights of the car began glaring brightly, more than they should. You could only assume it was because of whatever Eleven was doing. Eventually, they faded and you all looked at each other in shock. Had Eleven closed the gate?

You sighed and got into the car. It was less cramped with Steve actually being conscious now. The four kids crammed into the back as you drove them back. You dropped them all off at their homes, even Dustin who originally refused but you said you had to go back and deal with Billy. Steve insisted on going with you, muttering something about how he would pay for hurting you.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You take Billy back to his house and afterwards you and Steve reflect on the night, with Steve confessing his crush on you.

The ride back to the Byers’ was quiet. You and Steve barely said a word to each other. You could tell he was furious at something. You and the kids persuading him to go down the hole, Billy being an asshole, you didn’t know. You could just tell, and he needed to talk about it. But the drive to the Byers’ was short and there was no time to discuss.

You parked the car back outside of the house and hopped out, Steve following you closely behind. He had left his bat in the car per your instruction, but all he was thinking about was how much he’d like to use it on Billy. You entered the house, noticing Billy in the same position you’d left him in, unconscious on the floor.

You looked around the house, finally taking in everything that happened. “This place is a mess. The last thing Joyce needs is this.” You rubbed your forehead in frustration.

Steve nodded in agreement with you, hands on hips, trying to figure out what to do.

You looked at Billy, how unlike himself he now seemed passed out on the ground. “Help me get him on the couch?” You nodded your head towards Billy.

“Why should we help him be comfortable?” Steve’s voice was angry but you knew he didn’t want to point it at you.

“Because we are the better people here, Steve. Come on.”

Steve huffed and rolled his eyes, clearly realising you had a point. He grabbed Billy under the arms while you took his legs, heaving him over to the sofa. Billy groaned slightly but didn’t wake. Once you had placed him on the couch, you began looking around for things to clean up. The whole house needed a good clean but you weren’t sure if you should take down all the drawings or anything like that. You decided to start with the ornaments that had been knocked off the shelves when Steve and Billy were fighting. Steve decided to help, clearing up bits of broken glass.

“Is it wrong I don’t feel bad?” Steve said suddenly. He was unexpectedly panged with guilt and the fear you might think badly of him.

“For standing up to Billy?” Steve nodded his head slowly. “No. He’s an asshole, and he threatened to hurt Lucas. You were just looking out for the kids. There’s nothing wrong with that, Steve.” You smiled weakly at him, but you couldn’t help but think about what might happen when Billy wakes up.

“He hurt you, too.” Steve walked over to you, examining your nose carefully, his touch light as a feather. You hadn’t even thought much about it with everything else going on, but the sudden realisation of it made it ache.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” You weren’t the aggressive type. Of course, you wanted Billy to pay for what he’d done, what he’d said. But you didn’t want it to end in more violence.

Steve looked at you, completely unconvinced by what you said. He pulled you into a hug without warning, his arms around you gripping tightly. You hugged him back which appeared to give him some more confidence. Steve kissed the top of your forehead lightly, a seemingly instinctual response for him. You looked up at him, slightly shocked at what he’d done but honestly, you couldn’t say you were opposed to it. This nightmare of a night had brought you two together in a way that you couldn’t possibly have imagined.

Steve looked as if he was about to say something when you heard Billy groan once more from his spot on the couch. You glanced over and watched him try to sit up, and fail horribly. You and Steve parted and went to stand over Billy in some sort of attempt to intimidate him.

“What… the… fuck?” Billy squinted up at you, then to Steve.

“[Y/N]? We never discussed what we’re going to do with him.” Steve whispered over to you, keeping his eyes on Billy still trying to sit up.

“I think we should drive him home? Then go find your car since we never got that back.” Steve nodded and went back to focusing his full attention on Billy.

“Where’s Max?” Billy asked when he finally managed to prop himself up.

“We took her home, she’s safe,” Steve said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“My dad’s gonna kill her,” Billy mumbled and you and Steve looked at each other in confusion. “If he doesn’t kill me first.”

“What’s he talking about?” You asked Steve, unaware of anything about Max and Billy’s home life. You’d just assumed that he was just an asshole but maybe there was more to it that you didn’t know. Steve shrugged in answer to your question.

“I’m right here, you know.” Billy stood up, admittedly swaying a little bit but regained his balance quite quickly. “I’m leaving now.”

“You can’t drive.” Billy looked at you quizzically. “You were heavily sedated, there’s no way you can drive back safely.”

“Because you seem to care about my safety.” Sarcasm and anger were sprinkled through his tone.

You rolled your eyes. “I care about other people’s safety if you crash.”

“Fine, whatever, just don’t fuck up my car.” Billy pushed past you and Steve and started for the door. “Are you coming?”

You sighed and followed Billy out the door, Steve almost unwillingly following behind you. He wanted to confront Billy for what he did but this honestly didn’t seem like the best time to him. Billy just seemed fed up at this point so it wouldn’t mean anything to him anyway.

Steve reluctantly made his way into the back of the car, while you and Billy got in the front. You started the car up and drove off, Billy wincing at your handling of the car. You thought the way he drove was entirely more dangerous than how you drove, but clearly, safe driving was an issue for him.

You could see Steve in the rear-view mirror glaring at Billy. You couldn’t blame him, Billy did punch the shit out of him. You weren’t even sure how far he would have gone if Max hadn’t found that syringe.

You pulled up to Billy’s house, and got out, handing Billy the keys before helping Steve out the back and taking your stuff out the trunk. Billy didn’t say a word to either of you, he just walked up to his house. He didn’t seem his usual self, probably because he knew the second he got in the door, the shouting would start. You and Steve had barely walked ten steps when you heard it, a loud booming voice of a man you could only assume was Billy’s father.

“Shit.” Steve breathed out, looking back to the house in panic. “Do we do something about that?”

You placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Do you really want to get in another fight today? I feel bad for Billy if his dad is actually as shitty as he’s sounding, but there’s nothing we can do about it right now without making it worse.” You slid your hand down his arm, taking his hand in yours. “Come on, we can talk to him about it at school on Monday.”

Steve sighed and gripped your hand, interlocking his fingers with yours. The two of you walked in silence back to the road where Steve had left his car. Steve looked over at you every so often, making sure you were okay. It was pretty late by now and you were feeling completely exhausted by this whole day. You wished you could just crawl into bed and forget it even happened.

You finally reached Steve’s car but neither of you got in. Steve leaned in and turned the engine on, illuminating the road with his headlights but he remained outside and leant against the side of his car.

“Today was so messed up.” Steve closed his eyes and breathed out. He was clearly as exhausted as you were.

You took the backpack you had out on your back and put it on the ground, stretching your arms out afterwards. “At least you’ve been through this shit before.”

“It doesn’t make it any easier.” Steve’s face looked worse than it had before, dried blood and bruises washing all over him.

You reached your hand up to touch his face, tracing the cuts gently. Steve didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the touch. He was staring at you intently as you ran your fingers down his face.

“You know what’s weird though?” Steve asked and you cocked your head to the side in question. “I didn’t expect to develop a crush through all this.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Steve finally cement your relationship.

You looked up at Steve in shock. You could admit that you had feelings for him, too. Of course, you’d always had feelings for him. The boy was the most attractive guy in Hawkins High and you knew he had a softer side to him. Steve acted like an asshole before but the past year he had been getting better, which only cemented the deep-rooted crush you’d had on him since you were younger.

“I’m sorry – I shouldn’t have said that.” Steve looked away from you, into the trees behind you.

You shook your head. “No, it’s fine.” You let out a small laugh. “It’s more than fine, actually.”

Steve flicked his eyes to look back down at you, filled with curiosity. “How so?” A small smirk played on his lips.

“Because I happen to have a crush on you, too, Harrington.”

You didn’t know why Steve was shocked since literally every girl in Hawkins had a crush on Steve, but he was nonetheless. “Your brother’s gonna kill me for this.”

“For what?” is what you meant to say but Steve cut you off before you could say anything.

He pressed his lips harshly to yours like he was parched and you were the last drop of water. Steve’s hands moved around your body, finally settling with one on your waist and another cupping your neck, the sensation sending a shiver down your back. Your hands had grasped the collar of his jacket, gripping for dear life. Your lips moved together in sync like they were made just for each other.

Steve parted first, slowly, and out of breath. He kept his face close to yours, so much so that you could still feel his breath on your lips. You didn’t want to look up at him, you wanted to keep kissing him forever.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that for.” You whispered, finally looking up to meet his eyes.

Steve smiled at you. “I think I do.” He kissed you one last time, too quickly for your liking. “We should probably get out of here before we end up in a bush.” He winked at you and the two of you giggled before getting into the car.

Steve kept looking over at you the entire journey you were sure he’d end up staring and crash the car. He’d put his hand on your leg halfway through, the warmth radiating throughout your leg. He would trace patterns absentmindedly on your jeans, or squeeze every now and then. More for himself, actually, so he could remind himself that you were actually there, that you actually said you liked him back and that you actually kissed.

Steve pulled up to your house and stopped the engine.

“Do you want to come in?” You asked him, it was pretty late and even though he didn’t live too far from you, you didn’t like the idea of him driving alone.

“Won’t your parents see me? And what about Dustin?”

You just shrugged. “You can climb through the window, can’t you?”

A grin crept across Steve’s lips as he nodded. “I sure can.”

The two of you got out and you pointed to the window that led to your room. You had no doubt Dustin would be waiting up for you, or that maybe your mom would be up late, worried about the fact the two of you had been out so late.

You left Steve to creep around the back of your house and you went to open the door. The warmth immediately enveloped you, though none of the lights were on. You breathed a sigh of relief as you felt your way through the living room and down the hallway to your room. You noticed light coming from under Dustin’s door but you decided not to bother him, today had to have been hell for him, too.

You slid your door open and locked it behind you. If your mom or even Dustin found Steve in your room, both of you would be dead. Steve was waiting patiently outside your window. You had forgotten you locked it, so even if Steve tried to open it himself he would have had a tough time. You went over to the window to unlock it when you heard a knock at your door.

“[Y/N]? Can we talk?” You swing your head round to look at the door where the voice was coming from.

“Sure, Dusty. Give me a second.” You looked back at Steve and motioned for him to hide out the way of the window so you could let Dustin in.

You went over to the door and slid it open to see Dustin with tears down his face. You didn’t even have to ask, you just pulled him into a tight hug before letting go and bringing him into the room, closing the door behind you.

“I’m so sorry I brought you into this. Today was such a mess [Y/N]. I’m pretty sure all my friends hate me and then Steve got beat up and Billy hurt you too and-” you cut Dustin off again by pulling him into another hug.

“It’s okay, Dustin. I’m fine, Steve’s fine, and I’m sure your friends understand. You’ve been best friends for so long, there’s no way this is going to get between you.” You stroked his hair reassuringly.

“Are you sure?” Dustin looked up at you, unconvinced.

“Of course! You got through it last year, remember?”

“I didn’t keep a deadly animal from my friends last year.” His voice was sombre.

You stifled a laugh. “Dustin, that’s honestly the coolest thing you’ve ever done.”

Dustin laughed too. “It is, isn’t it? Thanks for helping me feel better.”

“What else am I good for?” You smiled at Dustin as he hit you in the arm playfully and left your room.

You went back to lock the door once more before opening the window and letting Steve in. The boy hopped up into the window and stumbled onto your floor.

“I’m usually better at that, I swear.” The two of you giggled as you helped him up.

The second Steve was stood up, he wasted absolutely no time and pressed his lips to yours. A blush rose straight to your face and you hadn’t a chance to react before he pulled away and grinned, clearly impressed with his ability to make you flustered in a matter of seconds.

“We should really clean up your face. Those dumb plasters the kids put on your face don’t really help.” You said, bringing a hand up and tracing a finger down his jawline.

“Are you sure? I think they bring out my eyes.”

You rolled your eyes and left the room quietly to get a first aid kit, wary of the fact Dustin was probably still up despite the fact his light was now off. When you got back to your room, Steve had sat down on the bed and was looking at a picture frame you normally had sitting on your bedside table.

“You were cute as a kid.” He said, showing you the picture of you and Dustin when you were younger.

“Were?” You raised an eyebrow at him and set the first aid kit down before sitting next to him.

“Yeah. You’re absolutely adorable now.” Steve’s smile beamed.

You rolled your eyes and brought out some cotton and alcohol to cleanse his wounds. You warned him that it would sting but he didn’t seem to take your warning into account, wincing the second you place it on his face and grabbing your hand to take it away.

“Steve, we have to do this. It’s gonna get infected otherwise and that definitely won’t be pretty.” Steve sighed and let go of you, allowing you to drag the cotton over his face once more.

He eventually got used to the sensation, perhaps he just enjoyed it because it was you. When you were done, Steve found himself longing for your touch, for your fingers to brush his skin no matter how gently.

“That looks much better.” You said to him, packing away the kit and placing it on the floor.

“Your nose is still bruised though.” Steve looked at you, bringing a hand to your face and rubbing his thumb gently across your cheek.

You laughed slightly. “There’s not much I can do about that.”

Steve placed a small kiss on the tip of your nose, so gently that you barely even felt it. “Who would have thought we would end up together, huh?”

You shook your head gently. “We’re together now?” You laughed slightly.

“Oh, so you’re just going to make out with me then presumably kick me out into the freezing cold night? That’s how this works?” Steve’s smile hinted at the fact he was obviously joking.

“Of course, Harrington. What else did you expect?”

He hummed, tilting his head slightly. “For you to be my girlfriend?” Steve ghosted his lips down your cheek and to your jawline causing little goose bumps to form over your body.

“I would love to.”

Steve grinned and kissed you once more, slowly. You could feel him smiling, making you smile too.

How you managed to end up with Steve, you didn’t know. You just knew that you’d have to thank Dustin in the morning for dragging you into this mess.


End file.
